190 1.] Allen^ Generic Names of the Mephitince. 33 ^ 



Viverra mephitis should hence read memphitis, not mephitis. 

 The name Viverra mephitis is thus not Schreber's, but merely 

 his emendation of the Linnaean name memphitis, as shown by his 

 use of the name on the plate and in the list of plates on p. 588, 

 where he says : " Viverra mephitis Linn." 1 As is well known, 

 the Linnaean Viverra memphitis is based on the " Ysquiepatl " of 

 Hernandez, which, as already explained by Mr. Bangs (Proc. 

 Boston Soc. Nat. Hist., XXVI, 1895, p. 351), is a compound of 

 the Mexican Coati and some Mexican Skunk, as likely to have 

 been a Conepatus or a Spilogale as a Mephitis. In any case, the 

 name has long been ruled out as unavailable in nomenclature. 



(2) Buffon is cited as follows : 



" Chinche. BUFF. 13 p. 294. tab. 39." 



(3) The reference to Pennant is given thus : 



" Skunk weesel. PENN. syn. p. 233. n. 167. mit Ausschluss der Anfuhrung 

 des Kalm." 



He thus excludes an important part of Pennant, since Kalm 

 unquestionably wrote of the common large skunk of eastern 

 North America. It is also to be noted in this connection that he 

 follows Linnaeus in again citing Kalm under his Viverra putorius, 

 which is also a Linnaean name. Pennant's ' Skunk Weesel ' is 

 well known to be composite, relating collectively to the then 

 known skunks of both North and South America. Of its range, 

 Pennant says : " Inhabits Peru, and North America, as far as 

 Canada." 



From the foregoing it will be seen that what there is in Schre- 

 ber's Viverra mephitis relating to North America are certain 

 references given by Pennant (not otherwise cited by Schreber), and 

 his reference to Buffon's chinche. Respecting the geographical 

 distribution of this animal Buffon explicitly states that it appertains 

 to the hottest climates of South America, and is not found in New 

 Spain, Louisiana, Illinois, and Carolina, as shown by the following 

 transcript from Buffon's article : " De ces quatre especes de 

 mouffettes, que nous venons d'indiquer sous les noms de coafe, 

 conepate, chinche & zorille, les deux dernieres appartiennent aux 

 climats les plus chauds de 1'Amerique meridionals, . . . Les 



1 Doubtless Schreber, as have most authors since his day, considered memphitis as a typo- 

 graphical error for mephitis. As to whether Linnaeus purposely wrote memphitis, see Howell, 



